Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to prevent violence in young offenders institutions.

The Government does not tolerate violence of any kind in young offender institutions and assaults are treated extremely seriously. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is comprehensively reviewing how it manages violence and will issue revised guidance in 2015. NOMS is also working with the police and Crown Prosecution Service to improve the investigation and prosecution of crime in young offender institutions and prisons.

The Government is committed to reducing self-harm in young offender institutions. All young offender institutions and prisons are required to have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harm to themselves. These procedures include the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process, which is an offender-centred, flexible care planning system designed to ensure that offenders at risk are managed in a way that is responsive to individual needs, including those related to age.

An analysis of assaults and self-harm by age is included in the Safety in Custody Statistics Bulletin, available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-in-custody-statistics.